I'm happy too
by ValeriaAvenSaya
Summary: A short one shot about Renji and my OC Saya. After months of silence two friends meet again and finally get their differences sorted out. In the end they get more out of it than they anticipated. Writing summaries isn't really my forte but I'd appreciate it if you gave this story a shot. Rated T because of the (light) swearing.


RENJI x OC (Ishikawa Saya)

Disclaimer: As I already mentioned Saya is my OC. None of the other characters or Bleach and its story belong to me. The plot of the one shot is mine too, if anyone has written a similar story: I didn't steal it we just had the same idea J

When I was 6 years old my father told me about the Soul Reapers and their work for the first time. Since I was so young, I didn't really understand it but as I grew older he told me more and more stories about his life as one of them. The day I turned 16, I decided that I wanted to become a Soul Reaper myself, something my parents weren't happy about since my father had to leave the 13 Court Guard Squads after being injured in a fight. But no matter how much they protested, no matter what they threatened me with (in the end they disowned me), I ignored them and joined the Soul Reaper Academy. From my first day on, I trained as hard as I could, memorized every little detail we were taught so I would become a Soul Reaper others would envy and admire for their talent and capability. My hard work paid off and I was assigned to the 11th squad where I met Abarai Renji. We became good friends, hanging out every chance we got, enjoying our time together. One day tough, he came running up to me, yelling something about a promotion to vice-captain of the 6th squad. Of course I was happy for him but since he was my only friend, I didn't want him to leave.

Some time has passed since then and Renji, having reunited with his childhood friend Kuchiki Rukia, stopped paying attention to me in favour of running after his long lost best friend. Due to the extra time that I now spent on work, it wasn't long until I was offered the position of 4th seat. That's how I got into a fight with Yumichika because, well, I had to be stronger than him seeing that Captain Zaraki just promoted me. We fought and I beat him. It took him quite a while to accept that fact but he got over it after having a talk with the Captain ('talk' meaning that Zaraki whacked him over the head telling him to stop wasting his time whining and instead working on getting stronger). From that day on I started hanging out with both Yumichika and Ikkaku, the three of us getting closer. But even these new friendships didn't help me forget about the precious time that stupid, tattooed red-head and I spent together. It just wasn't as easy to delete those memories and feelings for me as it apparently had been for him, so I had to find a distraction. Seeing that I was friends with one of the most hot-headed and strong fighters in the entire Seireitei, it really wasn't all that hard to find one.

~~~~~ Time Skip – A few weeks later~~~~~

"Shut up baldy and come fight me!" My voice echoed over the training grounds.

"I'm _not_ bald! I just shave my head!" Riling him up was so easy. A snide remark here, a taunting comment there and he was coming at you without restraint.

"You sure? 'Cause it's perfectly shiny, not a single hair in sight." My mouth stretched into a grin.

"I'll make ya regret sayin' that!" He came at me, smirking, his sword already drawn, ready to fight me. That was the moment I had been waiting for, my cue to draw my own zanpakutō.

With a sword in each hand I waited for Ikkaku to enter my range of movement. Blocking his first blow easily, I stepped to the side and turned around to attack him. Luckily for him he was able to use the sheath of his sword to keep his injuries to a minimum, which in this case meant: none. Injuring him this fast really would have been too easy, he was ranked 3rd seat for a reason after all.

~~~~~ Time Skip – After the fight ~~~~~

"You really overdid it this time…" I heard Yumichika's voice next to me, "I know that the both of you love to fight and I understand it but this is the 3rd time this week that you ended up badly injured and had to be treated by Captain Unohana and her squad. This is getting out of control." I turned my head to look at him but stopped halfway, hissing in pain.

"See, told you." The 5th seat said both exasperated and concerned at the same time. I didn't realize that was possible. Well, you learn something new every day.

"It's not that bad. Just a bit sore." When I was finally able to get a good look at him, he gave me his 'yeah-right-and-tomorrow-pigs-will-fly' look. When I didn't back down and continued staring at him, he heaved a sigh and got up from the chair next to my bed in the 4th squad's barracks.

"I'm going to check on the other idiot." And with that, he left. Now it was my turn to sigh because I was alone in a white, sterile and impersonal hospital room with nobody I could complain to about the shittyness of life in general. At least until I heard the door creaking and someone coming in.

"Back already Yumi-chick? Is he really _that_ annoying?" I needed to vent my frustration and calling Yumichika by that nickname drove him crazy. Can I really be blamed?

"Guess again." My head jerked in the direction of the familiar voice. I would recognize it anywhere. Deep and rough but gentle all the same.

"Ren-" I stopped myself. We hadn't spoken in quite some time, we weren't that familiar anymore. "Abarai." The thought that I had to call the guy I was in love with my best friend by his last name, made me feel a twinge in the general area of my heart.

"…how're ya doin'?" I looked at him, an incredulous look on my face.

"Are you kidding? That's the first thing you ask me after months of silence?" He avoided my gaze, suddenly very interested in the white floor. And just this little action made me explode. I was angry, furious and even my injuries didn't stop me from sitting up straight, glaring and yelling at the red-headed vice-captain.

"I didn't hear anything from you in months, now you suddenly turn up and can't even look at me? Do you even know what I felt like all this time? Why'd you do it? Why did you leave and not talk to me afterwards, huh? Is there a good reason? No? Didn't think so. You can't tell me that you're here because you're worried or because you missed me, there's gotta be something else. Why don't you just spit it out and leave so I can have my peace." I was seething and not even the kicked-puppy-look on Renji's face could make me regret the words that had just come out of my mouth.

"…I really do miss ya…an' I'm sorry about leavin' like that. It's just…" If stares could kill, Renji would have been dead ten times by now.

"Just what? It's just that the Kuchiki girl is more important? That you were so focused on being a good little lapdog that you conveniently forgot about the girl you tried to replace her with? Is that it?" For the first time since he'd entered the room, Renji actually looked at me.

"Her name's Rukia an' I hadn't seen her in forty years. What did ya expect? That I leave her behind an' never talk to her again just 'cause I made new friends?"

"No! I just expected you to still be my friend even if you already had your 'old' friends! You don't get it, do you? Maybe you'll understand if I put it like this: what did you feel like when the person you loved was suddenly unreachable? When you didn't, couldn't talk to them anymore, huh? I know you felt it with Rukia, you were hurting because of that situation but still put me through the same thing. You left me behind and never even looked back! You should know what it feels like to be treated in that way by the person you love!" I didn't cry. I couldn't, not anymore. I'd cried at night, silently without anyone noticing. I was done with whining and crying and I wouldn't start again. Especially not in front of this moron.

There was a pause. A very long and very awkward pause during which the vice-captain stared at me, mouth agape and eyes wide. When he still didn't say anything after almost 10 minutes of silence I sighed.

"If you're just going to stand there without saying anything you might just as well leave and be useless somewhere else." Mumbling into my pillow I tried to find a position in which I could sleep without waking up every five minutes because of the burning, stinging and throbbing I felt under all the bandages that covered 60% of my body. I was finally dozing off, when I heard a voice next to my ear uttering four words I never expected to hear.

"What did you just say?" Suddenly wide awake, I stared right into the red-head's eyes. He had moved from his position in the middle of the room to the chair that had been vacant since Yumichika left a while ago. I could see him swallow the lump in his throat.

"I-I said that I love ya too…" his cheeks were getting redder by the second but his gaze never left mine, his beautiful eyes full of emotion and honesty.

"…why'd you leave then?" There was no more anger, just curiosity. He chuckled humourlessly.

"I never thought you'd feel the same way…thought that leavin' would make it easier, that it would help me get over my feelin's for ya. I couldn't possibly tell ya so I had to find another way."

"You're a fucking idiot. What'd you think I'd do if I found out? Hate you? Even if I wasn't in love with you, it wouldn't have been a problem!"

"For _you_ it wouldn't, for me…I couldn't have talked to ya without bein' awkward and shit. Everythin' woulda been messed up and I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself for bein' such an idiot an' on top of tha-"

Before Renji could finish his sentence, I shut him up by pressing my lips to his. The kiss only lasted for a second but fulfilled its purpose. I had shocked him into a stunned silence.

"…I think I just broke him." I muttered to myself, drawing him back to reality. A gigantic grin formed on his face.

"Can we…ya know, do that again?" he was blushing again. So cute.

"Sure, you're my boyfriend, you don't have to ask for permission to kiss me, just do it." I laughed. His eyes widened again.

"Boy…friend? Ya mean ya wanna date me?"

"No, I want to smash your face against the wall." I deadpanned. A cheeky grin formed on his features.

"Nah, I don't think ya do." He was about to open his mouth again but I didn't give him the chance to. Grabbing the back of his head, I pulled him in for another kiss, this one lasting much longer than the first. When we broke apart because our lungs started protesting, my fingers found their way to his uniform, pulling him onto the bed next to me. At first he looked surprised but then I could feel his arms snaking their way around me, pulling me closer to his warm body. He kissed the top of my head, whispering something into my hair.

"What was that?" I questioned, looking up into his face.

"Nothin'. I'm just really happy." He smiled, kissing the tip of my nose. "Ya forgave me for bein' an idiot an' ya even return my feelin's. I'm glad that I finally got my ass up an' came ta see ya today." I felt him nuzzling his face into my hair and smiled. My head in his chest, I murmured a: "I'm happy too…" before falling into a dreamless sleep, knowing that the man I loved was right here, by my side.

Just a little bit of Renji fluff (I guess a bit of drama but yeah, not much). I hope you liked it. There is probably a lot of room for improvement but right now I'm actually okay with it. Tell me if you liked it! Criticism is appreciated. J

This is my first one shot, so I thought that I could share it. I guess the story's a little random but the idea kinda came to me out of nowhere and I didn't want to forget about it so I sat down and started writing.

I'm thinking about writing a series of one shots for my favourite bleach characters (Renji's not actually my favourite but he just kinda fits into the plot :P) but I'll have to see if I can find the time.

P.S.: This is my not so successful attempt to keep the way the characters speak canon. I've only watched the series in japanese so forgive me if I didn't get it right (of course you can still tell me but I wanted to mention it anyway).


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